Jezebel
Where should the quarter million excess single women of New York move when they finally figure out how to get a job elsewhere? Richard Florida, the overrated sociologist or pop economist or whatever who wrote the Rise of the Creative Class — an academic treatise on gays and how they make cities more fun to live in, duh — has finally contributed something truly worthwhile to humanity, which is to say, a helpful map illustrating just how big and bad the male/female ratio is in metropolitan areas throughout the United States. (Jump to view the whole wide depressing motherfucker!) Apparently it's time to move to Seattle. (Think I should send my resume to Dan Savage?) And where were all those desperate dudes when I lived in LA? Oh right, probably working in porn.
Seriously though, all the contrarians who say the demographic imbalance is overstated or overrated or overblown; it doesn't matter. Its perceived reality is all that matters — and hey, as it turns out, it isn't just perceived. Every time I enter into a romantic transaction in which I think I have accurately calculated my real Romantic Value, adjusted for geography-based purchasing power parity or whatever, I turn out to be wrong — we're like the dollar against the Euro; only with the one commodity that is harder for women here to give up than luxury goods and wine. (Collateral damage of Bush Administration profligacy? Not really but okay.) Last summer I got rejected by a guy who didn't know who Machiavelli was. (Well, to be fair, he said, "I know Tupac changed his name to that once.") But wait, let's talk fair: what was I doing with a dude who didn't know who Machiavelli was? Well, drinking, obviously, but...anyway, I realize...this is an unseemly amount of self-pity by way of introduction to what was meant to be opportunity for you, dear readers, to air an unseemly amount of self-pity. Enjoy!
The Singles Map [Creative Class Blog]
Comments
One more reason for me to love the West Coast...
That, and Burgerville.
Honolulu is looking pretty nice right about now. But just for the climate.
Huh, that's funny. They're just on opposite sides of the coast.
I don't need a map to tell me there are no men in Fort Lauderdale. I live it every day.
Denver here I come!
I really don't get the West Coast /East Coast disparity. What happened to all the California girls? Maybe the Beach Boys were so crazy about them because there were so few.
I wonder if all those blue dots have anything to do with Florida being Murderville....
And I still don't want to live in Duluth MN.
Can anyone come up with a reason for the continental divide? Seems bizarre to me.
my god. well this accounts for all the Jersey trash trolling Old City every weekend in with their faux-tanned neon encased bodies.
@braak (is *whew*):
Seriously, this map looks just like my middle school gym did during dances.
The solution is on the east coast is for well educated women to marry all the single men here from Central America. Wait, are there logistical problems with that?
Isn't the big blue dot in Minneapolis/St. Paul misleading or at least lacking pertinent info? It's gay city out there according to my sister-in-law.
I'm sending this to my bff right now. She's about to graduate law school and has already accepted a job in NYC and is always complaining about finding a man.
I totally thought those circle were going to correlate to penis girth in the colored states. Because THAT would be some useful information for a bitch.
St Paul, MN, here i come
I think I learned about this in an episode of Sex and the City.
I am actually leaving the single female laden DC to be with a guy who is in the single male laden Bay area.
Florida= 80 year old widows. Sorry.
@screamingannie: Well, if Duluth doesn't do it for you, there are comparable dots on Green Bay and Boise. Feeling better?
@braak (is *whew*): Just like middle school dances! Boys on the bleachers on the right side of the gym, and girls on the right!
@hortense: Oh shit, wait! There's more single MEN in Florida!
80 year old widowers, then.
If you want to be more depressed, drill down into other factors like race, economics, divorced etc.
Oh please, Florida has more single men than women? Aren't there a ton of old peeps there? Surely the women outlive the men.
@ThaKadinskyPapers: Would that mean the red then represents the circumference of vaginas?
@Boogaloo2: Dammit. Beat me to it.
Also if Anne Heche is to be believed, in Alaska there appear to be a lot more of the mens. And probably bears. Bears versus dates...
Washington DC...More women. Crap. Though I think the gender imbalance is only a small part of why dating here sucks. The other part would be that I don't like powerhungry douchebags with delusions of self importance. Sigh.
I think there is nothing more sought after than an 80yo single man in FL. The 60-70yo women compete for them.
Do you think any of those big blue dots correlate with the presence of a prison?
Whatever, i'll see ya'll on the left coast.
Oh god, I felt unfuckable in New York. In LA you can roll out in your PJs and still go home with 3 different guys. I mean, you might not want to after you talk to them, but you could.
um, did mr. florida consider the gays here? just 'cause the west coast is raining men doesn't mean a straight woman increases her odds there.
I always knew Atlanta was a vagina-hotspot.
@PinkSoxHat: sex and the city and entourage.
admin the unterminated string is making me crazy
So, like, is everyone married in Montana?
@WaltzingMatilda: Hotlanta?
@screamingannie: Hey, stop hating on Duluth! :)
@Sugarless: @hortense: The map says it only includes ages 20-64.
@hortense: Ah ha! Mr. Florida was too wily for you. He limited the "singles" to ppl between 20 and 64.
(and the name is Mr. Florida? Really? Dick Florida?)
This map further fuels my dream of moving to a cabin in the northwoods. Every few days, I will venture to town for cheap beer and bait, and I will be the hottest property in town.
@MedalofPetals: Hot-gina-lanta.
@Lymed: @WaltzingMatilda: Ah! Okay. 64 year old widowers, then.
@chlauraform: exACTly.
I'm sticking with the east coast to find me a nice lezebels.
Seattle, the odds are good but the goods are...
I call bullshit on Denver...maybe somebody's screwing but it sure as shit ain't me!
Seattle may have more singles, but it's also harder to meet people here. It's the Seattle Chill phenomenon - people are very polite (sometimes overly polite) but are still distant. They stay in their own little social circle and don't branch out much.
I had a roommate who fit the definition to a T - he was extremely quiet, always very polite (sometimes painfully so), and reserved. If was angry about something, he'd leave subtle hints for days, rather than just saying something and letting everyone get over it. In the 9 months I lived in the same house as him, we had maybe two conversations that went beyond "how are you, how was your day." If I brought up something more personal, he'd get all flustered and freaked out.
[seattletimes.nwsource.com]
@Lymed: 64 is the new 80.
Thanks, Jezebel. As if spending last night by myself watching baseball and eating jelly beans wasn't depressing enough.
Looks like I'll be moving to the east coast after graduation.
This map tells you nothing. There's a nice big blue dot right over my part of New England, but no one wants to date the guys it represents. Single girls need a "quality of single men" chart. It will have approximately five dots on it, total.
@WaltzingMatilda: yes, let me tell you, there are not many single men here in atlanta, and the ones that are single are gay! lots of teh gays here, it makes for fun times, but rough for dating.
Hmm, looks like there are more men than women in Raleigh, NC. But I can attest it's a case of quantity, not quality.
@Lady Skittlehattington, toast enthusiast: That actually sounds like a pretty good night to me!
Boston may have a fairly even female-to-male ratio, but I'm betting that's because a disproportionately high number of the mens are in college, and therefore should not count...
@hello.kitty: Nope. I lived there for 10 years up until 7 years ago. Lots of single men. Lots and lots of them, at least in my experience, as well as the experience of my many friends and relatives still there. But you gotta live in the city-- not the 'burbs-- to meet them. Many of the guys are pretty cute, too. Also, it's a city full of creative underclass types, mostly because it's less expensive to live there. Additionally, there are lots of gays.